Elwin Tinklenberg out of 6th CD race
Today, Tinklenberg announced he is no longer in the running to challenger Rep. Bachmann. This means that, to my utter delight, this is now a three woman fight to win the 6th, with DFLer Tarryl Clark and former IP Lt Governor candidate Maureen Reed vying for the DFL nomination. It is nearly impossible at this point for the 6th CD representative not to be a women.
Tarryl Clark had this to say about Tinklenberg’s departure from the race:
“From day one, El and I have shared the common goal of changing the 6th District’s representation in Congress. El knows first-hand from his work just how much is at stake for the working families and small businesses across Minnesota. I thank El for his dedication and public service, and know he will continue to be a leader in our community.”
And Maureen Reed has gave this statement:
“First and foremost, I want to thank El Tinklenberg for his dedication to public service. He has worked hard on behalf of the citizens of the sixth district and this state as Mayor of Blaine, State Transportation Commissioner and as a Congressional Candidate. El is a tremendous public servant. I wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
In the meantime, Clark has already been racking up endorsements, from the SCSU Young Dems to today’s announcement from AFSCME.
Will these early endorsements translate to big fund raising numbers? Time will only tell.
Maureen Reed has a good chance at the endorsement from the DFL.
My read on the situation is that it’s a dead heat between Clark and Reed. It’s a long way off from the endorsement and Reed is working doubly hard at getting it, while bringing in great in-state fund raising numbers.
In my opinion, Reed is the best candidate. She’s not tied to an extremely partisan voting record, she’s an expert in health care and education and she’s able to speak plainly and clearly on many topics. I really do hope she gets the nomination in the end.
A variation on that same comment has been posted all over the Minnesotaa blogosphere whenever this race is talked about.
Good luck with that attempt to frame Tarryl Clark as an extremist.
And perhaps as you learn to frame, MNBlue, you might consider that a party’s endorsements are partisan affairs, so damning someone as “partisan” might not be as incredibly intelligent a thing to say to potential DFL delegates.